Spike: A Love Story

An anthropomorphized mechanical spike trap, akin to Super Mario 3's Thwomp, waits attached to a dungeon ceiling for platforming heroes to wander by underneath and get messily pulped. The spike trap's humdrum and limited existence is controlled by the player, and specifically the player's space bar only. The only question -- to drop or not to drop? -- is refined a bit by demanding precise timing. The room in which the spike trap is installed periodically manifests new fixtures of video game set dressing (teleporters, conveyor belts) to change the heroes' approach, and sometimes the square-jawed little protagonists take advantage of various platformer power-ups to break up the monotony of the old mind game of wondering whether they'll make a run for it or not. Drop too soon and the alarmed hero will take off during the trap's brief refractory period.